Time to hit panic button as listless Blue Jays continue to pile up losses​on September 25, 2025 at 1:49 am

In his last home start of the regular season, the question that must be posed is whether Wednesday night’s outing was the last for Max Scherzer as a Blue Jay.

Article content

For the second straight time, the veteran was shelled in the first inning.

Article content

Article content

Only this time, he managed to complete the inning but not before he yielded three runs on five hits.

The visiting Boston Red Sox, who are closing in on securing a wild-card berth, actually let the future hall of famer off the mat.

When Scherzer surrendered a leadoff homer in the fifth inning, it was the 10th hit recorded by the BoSox.

The Jays’ once deep and high-end rotation isn’t looking so promising and neither is the team’s overall fortunes heading into the final four games of the regular season.

Back-to-back losses to Boston dropped the Jays’ record to 1-6 in their past seven.

Offence has been the primary culprit to this recent stretch of woeful baseball, but pitching hasn’t done the Jays any favors.

Article content

Scherzer has been quite bad, but somehow avoided the indignity that befell him in Kansas City when the Royals routed the Jays 20-1 on a night positional players were used.

As recently as a month ago, Scherzer seemed like a slam dunk to start in the playoffs.

All bets are now off.

He has been used out of the bullpen in the past.

If the Jays happen to find themselves in a best two-out-of-three wild-card playoff, the odds of Scherzer making a start don’t appear to be good.

He can’t avoid trouble in the first inning.

The eternal optimistic would argue he did settle down once the three-run carnage had ended.

Then again, giving up 10 hits and needing to throw 86 pitches does not inspire much confidence.

He did record five strikeouts.

Article content

Article content

The following are three takeaways from a 7-1 loss to the Red Sox as the Jays avoided their second shutout in the past seven games when Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the ninth inning by belting a solo blast, a night the Jays would lose their sixth game in the past seven when a combined five runs were produced in those defeats, a night when Alejandro Kirk was thrown out at first base to record the game’s final out on a throw from right field no less.

1. Paging Vlad Jr.

No player is wearing the mounting losses more than Vladimir Guerrero Jr, the face of the franchise who is now facing increased scrutiny with every miserable at-bat.

To put it mildly, he’s been scuffling.

His frustration finally got the better of Vlad Jr. when he was tossed from the game following a called third strike to leadoff the seventh inning.

Article content

Replays clearly showed the baseball catching a bit of the strike zone.

Vlad Jr. objected and was summarily tossed.

His night began on a soft groundout en route to an 0-for-3 night at the plate.

No one is missing Bo Bichette’s presence more than Vlad Jr.

Eventually, Vlad Jr. needs to step up.

Frustration becomes inevitable when losses begin to pile up, when prolonged empty at-bats result in long faces.

Time is running out and it’s time Vlad Jr. lives up to the hype.

He will be under microscope when the playoffs roll around.

So far, he hasn’t handled the pressure the way the face of a franchise is asked to embrace the position.

2. Return of Tony Taters

Underwhelming best described Anthony Santander’s return to the lineup.

Article content

The switch-hitting slugger hit fifth in the order as his audition for post-season consideration began Wednesday with additional auditions in store in the coming days.

Hard to judge a guy based on one night when Santander last appeared in a big-league game back on May 29 when he was in the throes of an 0-for-17 hitting slump.

In his return, Santander was late on pitches and basically posed no threat, pretty much mirroring the rest of his teammates.

He struck out twice against Boston’s staff ace in left-hander Garrett Crochet, who was brilliant in limiting the Jays to three hits, while striking out six in completing eight shutout innings.

Article content

3. Bullpen Berrios

And to think Jose Berrios was the Jays’ opening day starter and to think the right-hander was on the mound the last time the club played in a post-season game, credit the veteran for maintaining his professionalism in a season marred by disappointment.

He made his first appearance out of the pen when Berrios started the sixth inning in relief of an ineffective Scherzer.

In good times or bad, Berrios will always battle and he certainly lived up to the expectations when facing the BoSox.

When he did start, the biggest bugaboo was Berrios’ penchant for surrendering home runs.

It surfaced with two outs and two on in the eighth inning when No. 9 hitter Carlos Narvaez took Berrios deep for a three-run blast.

Article content

Any late-game comeback, which seemed virtually impossible in the moment given Toronto’s ineptness, went out the proverbial window.

The Rogers Centre roof was closed and it was a big game for the Jays, but the announced crowd was 39,438.

In other words, it wasn’t a sellout.

Perhaps the bandwagon is losing passengers.

Up next

As of late Wednesday, the Jays hadn’t decided on their starter for the series finale (7:07 p.m. first pitch) following the decision to push back Shane Bieber to Friday when Tampa comes to town to close out the regular season. The Jays have never experienced a home series sweep this season, but as they say there’s always a first.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Article content